Deja Vu
by DCstarkid25
Summary: The Cohen family plus one take in another troubled teenager.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I own nothing!**

Chapter 1

**Ask anyone and this is where they'd tell you I would end up. I probably would have agreed with them to, if you had asked me a year ago. But I never would have expected to go down like this, for this. Not for a crime I didn't commit. **

**It's laughable really, how many times I walked away from crimes I did do only to get taken down by the one I didn't.**

**Murder, they think I murdered my step-father. Sure, I didn't like the man, but he made my mom happy. I would never do anything to damage that. She deserves to be happy. But even she didn't believe that I didn't do this . . . no one did. **

"Mariano comma Jess?"

Jess looked up, seeing a burly guard standing before him on the other side of the bars.

"You Jess Mariano?"

Jess nodded, not able to take his eyes off the guard's gun.

"Your public defender is here."

Jess closed his journal, tucking it in the waistband of his pants before turning around and locking his hands together. He could hear the sound of the metal door sliding open before the feeling of cold metal locking around his wrists.

Jess was guided to a room with a bunch of folding tables and forced to sit down. He was sitting across from a kind looking man who had the bushiest eyebrows he had ever seen.

"I don't think those will be necessary," the man said, gesturing to the handcuffs still wrapped around Jess' wrists. The guard made no move to remove them. "We'll be alright. Please remove them."

The guard roughly removed the cuffs and went over to stand guard by the door. Jess rubbed his wrists to get the circulation flowing.

"Thanks," Jess said, still rubbing his wrists.

"No problem at all. Those things can't be comfortable."

"Yeah, so how did you get stuck with me? Lose the coin toss?"

"Actually I won."

Jess gave the man a cold stare but he just smiled back at him.

"Hey, you could do worse. I'm Sandy Cohen," he reached across the table to shake Jess' hand who after a moment's hesitation, shook it.

"So, how long?"

"How long?"

"How long is the jail time I'm looking at?"

Sandy gave him a long look, seeming to be searching for something in his face before flipping through the pile of notes in front of him.

"Who said you were going to jail at all?" Sandy glanced up at him from his notes. "From what I see here, they have next to no evidence against you, besides the fact that you didn't like the guy, and you have a rock solid alibi for the time of the murder. Technically you shouldn't have been arrested at all and they probably would have let you go by now . . ."

"Except for everyone thinks I did it, so no one's come to get me. Beautiful," Jess said sarcastically, a disgusted look on his face. "So what? I'm the fall guy? I mean everyone expected the little punk to end up here anyway so why don't we just blame him. Add to that the fact that he hated the guy . . . I made their jobs pretty easy didn't I?"

"Maybe, except that it wouldn't have held up in court and they knew that. My guess, they probably arrested you to smoke out the real guy, hoping he would get sloppy if he thought he had gotten away with it."

"Well that's just great, so glad I could help the cops do their job, against my will."

"Well the good news is that they missed their window of opportunity."

"What do you mean?"

"For their plan to have worked they would have had to find the real murderer before your public defender showed up. They have nothing to hold you on so I should be able to get you released today."

Jess looked down at his hands, wringing them nervously. He could feel Sandy's eyes on him.

"What's wrong? Usually that kind of news makes my clients very happy."

"Nothing, it is great news. I just don't know where to go from this. Everybody back home thinks I'm a murderer, even my mom."

"How old are you Jess?"

"Shouldn't that be in your little file?"

"It is. Or at least the age on your ID was. Great job by the way. Very professionally done; but we both know you're not 25, so how old?"

Jess paused, reluctant to answer. On one hand he was just getting out of a major mess and he'd hate to get busted for having a fake ID on top of that. On the other hand, Mr. Cohen had really helped him out and seemed to genuinely care about what happened to him. "16," he finally decided to answer.

Sandy nodded, looking through his notes again, landing on a page and reading it thoroughly. "Whoa, déjà vu," he muttered. "Well it worked out for me once, maybe . . ."

Jess just stared at the man. He seemed to be talking to himself, his voice trailing off into nothing. Jess stayed quiet for a few more minutes, allowing the man to mumble to himself before he felt compelled to say something.

"Is everything okay Mr. Cohen?"

Sandy looked up, seeming to come out of his trance.

"Yes, everything is fine. It's just your test scores . . ."

"What about them?"

"They're amazing. If you actually went to class and did the work you could get into any college you want."

Jess snorted, "Yeah because every college would love a student who has been arrested for murder."

"Well the great thing about being a juvenile is that when you reach 18 all your records will be sealed. So if for now on you keep your nose clean, you could have a good future."

Jess snorted again, Sandy could tell that the young boy didn't believe him.

"Sit tight, I'll be right back."

Sandy left, leaving Jess sitting at the table by himself. It felt like forever that he was sitting there before Sandy finally came back.

"So you ready to blow this joint?" Sandy said, smiling down at him.

"What?"

"Leave, are you ready to leave? I just go off the phone with Judge Perkins, he's a good friend of mine and he said he would be willing to release you, pertaining that it was into my custody."

"I can't ask you to do that," Jess said, head down, staring at his hands. Jess knew that he could be ruining his chance of getting out of here early but this man, with the unruly eyebrows, had believed in him, in a way that no one else had. He couldn't take advantage of him like that.

"You're not asking. I am. Seriously I am, I had to call home and ask my wife, talk to my kids, we had our own little conference call back there. So what do you say?"

Jess didn't know what to think. Nobody had done anything like this for him before. His own uncle didn't even want to take him in and they were family. Yet this stranger had offered him a place to stay without a second thought.

"Are you sure your family is okay with this?"

"Of course I'm sure. My wife is used to my bringing my work home with me."

"Then yeah, I would really appreciate a place to crash."

"I was hoping you would say that." Sandy gestured to a guard in the corner who came over carrying a bag, placing it on the table in front of Jess.

"Here's all of your personal belongings. We can send for the rest of your stuff later."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome. The bathroom is right over there if you want to go change your clothes."

Jess stood up, glancing around, expecting a guard to come up to guide him to the bathroom. Sandy gave him a knowing look. "You don't have to worry about that anymore Kid. You are a free man. Go ahead."

Jess cautiously walked to the bathroom carrying his bag of belongings, expecting at any moment for a guard to approach, slam him into the wall and roughly cuff his hands together.

He made it safely to the bathroom, firmly locking the door behind him and started pulling out his belongings. The first thing he noticed was how bad they smelled. The clothes had been locked in an evidence locker since he had been arrested a week ago.

Jess quickly got dressed, eager to get out of there. He searched through the bag as well as around him and noticed that his watch was missing. It was his grandfather's watch. His dad must have left it when he left, leaving Jess to find it years later. It was the only thing he really had of them and now it was gone.

Jess finished getting ready, throwing the bag in the trash can and walked back into the visitor's room. Sandy was waiting for him, still smiling. "Everything okay?"

Jess nodded. He could have brought up his missing watch, but didn't want to make any more waves with the police department. The watch wasn't anything special anyway. It's not like it had been given to him or anything, he found it wedged between the couch cushions of their old home.

"So you ready to get out of here?"

Jess nodded again, suddenly not feeling like talking.

Sandy placed a hand on his back, guiding him through the police station and out to the parking lot.

The car ride to the Cohen house was relatively quiet, for the first hour at least.

"So you're married?" Jess asked, realizing he didn't know hardly anything about the people he was going to be staying with.

"Yes I am. For 20 years last April."

"That's a long time."

"Well when you find the right one . . ."

"My mom thought she found the right one. Six times."

The car lapsed into silence again.

"This is a nice car. I didn't know your kind of lawyer made money."

Sandy started to laugh, "Déjà vu part two."

Jess just stared at him, not having any idea what he was talking about. Sandy cleared his throat, "We don't. My wife does though."

Jess nodded, "You mentioned you have kids?"

"Yep. Two boys and a girl. Ryan and Seth are around your age and my daughter Sophie just turned three."

Jess glanced at him," And you want to add another teenager to that. Sounds like you've got a full house to me."

Sandy smiled over at him, "We always have room for one more."

Jess turned his head to look out the window, watching the scenery go by. He didn't know what to say to that. He had never met anyone like Sandy Cohen before. The man was so open, so excepting. He was so willing to help someone, even a screwed up kid like him, without asking for anything in return. Which was good for Jess because he didn't have anything to give.

The rest of the car ride was silent until they pulled up to a gated community. A man checked Sandy's ID before opening the gate and letting them through. Jess stared out the window in awe at the size of the houses they were passing. They pulled into the driveway of a large two story house. Sandy got out of the car, Jess stayed frozen, staring at the house. Sandy walked around to the other side of the car and knocked on the window. Jess opened the door.

"You coming?" Sandy asked an amused look on his face.

Jess nodded and followed Sandy into the house.

Jess didn't think it was possible but the inside of the house looked even bigger than the outside. Jess was standing in the foyer, taking in his surroundings, not noticing that Sandy was no longer beside him.

"Kirsten? Kirsten?" Sandy shouted as he walked through the house.

"We're in the kitchen Honey." Kirsten shouted back.

Sandy walked into the kitchen to see his whole family sitting around the table. Sandy gave them a sheepish smile, causing Ryan to smile back, amused.

"So, decided to take in another stray did you?"

Sandy smiled straight at Ryan, his eyes twinkling. "Well it worked out for me the first time didn't it?"

Ryan ducked his head, blushing.

Seth chuckled at Ryan's discomfort before turning back to his dad and asking the question that was on all of their minds.

"So where is this new young hoodlum of ours?"

"Seth!" Kirsten exclaims.

Seth shrugs unapologetically.

"I think he's still in the foyer. I don't think he's accustomed to the upper, upper class style of living."

"I know how that feels."

"You and me both Kid. It definitely takes some getting used to." Sandy turns and gestures in the direction of the foyer, "I'll just go get him then."

Jess was still in the same spot that Sandy had left him in only minutes earlier.

"Hey Kid, you okay?"

Jess jumped, not noticing that Sandy had come up beside him, "Sorry."

Sandy nodded understandingly, "That's okay. I felt the same way when I first moved here. You good?"

Jess nodded.

"Good. Well everyone's gathered in the kitchen. They're really excited to meet you." Sandy led the way into the kitchen. Sandy stopped short once he reached the kitchen, almost causing Jess to bump into him. Sandy turned around and patted his arm, "Sorry Kid." Jess just shrugged. Sandy turned back to his two boys, "Where's your mom?"

"Sophie was getting a little fussy so mom took her upstairs for her nap," Seth answered.

Sandy guided Jess over to the kitchen table, "Have a seat Kid. I'm going to go check on Kirsten and Sophie."

Jess sat down next to Ryan. It was quiet for the next few minutes until Seth couldn't take it anymore. He had never been very good with silence.

"So I'm Seth. Mr. Talks-a-lot over there is my brother Ryan."

Jess looked at Ryan, curiously, "I don't talk a lot," Ryan explained.

"Hmmm," Jess grunted.

"So do you have a name?" Seth asked.

"Jess," he answered not giving any more than that.

"So you only speak in monosyllables like Ryan. That's cool," Seth said, bobbing his head emphatically. Seth was about to speak again when Sandy came back into the room, Kirsten following closely behind.

"So, have you boys been getting acquainted?" Sandy asked.

"Yes we have. Mom this is Jess," Seth answered.

"Oh, well it's nice to meet you Jess," Kirsten said, turning to Jess and holding out her hand, which Jess shook.

"You to."

"Well look at that," Seth exclaimed, "You can string together more than on syllable at a time."

"Seth!" Sandy and Kirsten shouted at the same time.

"What?"

Jess started to laugh, the Cohen family all turned to him, confused. Jess just smiled.

"Of course I can. I just choose not to."

Seth started to laugh to, waving his arms and pointing at Jess excitedly, "That's awesome. I like this guy." He turned to Ryan, "I may even like him better than you. At least he came with a sense of humor."

Ryan smiled back, "Well he can have you. Maybe then I'll finally get some peace and quiet."

"Alright boys, that's enough," Kirsten intervened, although it looked like she was trying really hard not to laugh at the boys' antics.

"We are really happy to have you here with us Jess. Are you hungry, I don't know if they fed you before or . . ."

"I could eat."

"We have some left over Thai, or if you don't like that . . ."

"Thai is fine, thank you. I can pretty much eat anything. I'm not picky."

"Oh a man after my own heart," Sandy said.

"I'll heat you both up something then," Kirsten said walking over to heat up some of the left overs.

"Hey Kid, while she's doing that why don't I show you to your room?"

Jess shrugged, standing up. Sandy turned to Ryan, "Hey Kid do you mind letting Jess borrow something of yours to wear tomorrow? You both look about the same size."

"Sure, I'll grab you something to sleep in tonight too. You probably don't want to sleep in those."

"No I don't. In fact I kind of never want to see them again. Thanks."

"No thanks needed. I get it."

Jess was curious and wanted to ask more but Ryan had already started towards the stairs. Sandy started up after him, leaving Jess to follow behind.

The upstairs looked just as nice as the downstairs and just as spacious. There appeared to be five bedrooms, three on one side and two on the other. Sandy stopped at the door nearest to the staircase on the side that had three bedrooms. "This will be your room. It is currently doubling as the guest room but feel free to make it your own."

Sandy opened the door, letting Jess peak inside.

The room was big, bigger that Jess' whole living room back home, it was half the size of Luke's apartment and it was very nicely decorated.

"So what do you think?"

"It's great. Thank you so much Mr. Cohen."

"Sandy."

Jess turned to him, confused. "What?"

"Call me Sandy."

"Sandy!" Kirsten shouted from downstairs. "The food is ready."

"Well we better go get it, while it's still hot. We'll leave you alone to settle in after you eat, okay?"

Jess nodded, following Sandy back down to the kitchen. Kirsten was the only one in the kitchen when they made it back down there. Two plates of food were sitting on the table. Kirsten was sitting at the head of the table, a cup of coffee in her hands.

"Thanks," Jess said, nodding at her. He sat down, Sandy sitting across from him, and dug in.

"You're welcome. How is it?"

"It's good," Jess said, swallowing.

"So what's going to happen now?" Jess asked, after they were done eating.

Sandy looked at Jess, noticing how tired he looked. "Why don't we let you settle in and discuss this more tomorrow?"

Jess nodded gratefully and excused himself to go back upstairs.

Jess opened the door, to what was now his room, seeing two sets of clothes on the bed. He set one pair down on the chair in the corner, changing into the second pair. He turned out the lights and slipped into the bed, pulling the covers up over him and quickly falling asleep.

**Please Review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I own nothing!**

Chapter 2

The last week has been both the worst and the best week of my life. I was thrown in jail for a crime I didn't commit. My own family and friends didn't even believe I didn't do it. But this stranger and his family just opened their home to me, no questions asked.

"Jess!" Seth shouted, knocking loudly on the door.

Jess shut his journal, hiding it under his pillow and went over to open the door. Seth was on the other side, his hand raised, ready to knock again.

"Oh, hey you're up."

"Yeah, been up for hours Seth. It's like ten in the morning."

"Yes, well us Cohen's aren't a morning bunch. But c'mon, Rosa made breakfast."

Jess followed Seth down the stairs to the kitchen.

"Who's Rosa?"

"She's our housekeeper and she is awesome."

"Oh."

Ryan and Sophie were already at the table when Jess and Seth came in. Sophie turned to Jess, waving emphatically, "Hi."

Jess turned and gave her a gentle smile, "Hi."

"I'm Sophie."

"Hi there Sophie. I'm Jess." Jess held out his hand, letting her shake it. She giggled.

Rosa came out from the kitchen and set down a plate in front of him. "Thank you," he said, turning to her. She smiled and nodded before heading back into the kitchen.

"This is really good," Jess said, his mouth stuffed with food.

"I know. Rosa's the best," Seth said, shoveling food into his mouth.

Jess turned to Sophie who was making little grunting sounds and watched her try to cut her pancakes with a plastic knife and fork. The knife suddenly slipped causing a piece of pancake to fly across the table and hit Seth in the face.

"Hey!" Seth exclaimed, grabbing a napkin and trying to wipe the syrup off his face. Ryan and Jess started laughing. Jess reached over and grabbed Sophie's plate and bringing it in front of him. He started cutting her pancakes into bite sized pieces for her. "Here you go," he said, handing her plate back to her.

"Thank you," she said, turning to glance at Ryan and then Seth, sticking her tongue out at them. "He's my new favorite."

Jess smirked at them while Ryan rolled his eyes. "I wouldn't get too used to it. She changes favorites every other hour."

"I do not!"

"Hey guys," Sandy said, coming into the kitchen, Kirsten behind him.

"Hey Sandy," Ryan said, "Did you go surfing this morning?"

"Unfortunately no. Kirsten and I had a meeting early this morning. Jess, when you're done eating come talk to us in the living room okay?"

Jess nodded and continued eating, silently.

When they were done eating, Seth picked up Sophie and took her upstairs to help clean her up, Ryan helped Rosa clear the dishes, and Jess went into the living room to talk to Sandy and Kirsten.

"Sit down Jess." Jess sat cautiously, tense. "Relax Jess. It's nothing bad, I promise."

Jess let out the breath he had been holding but didn't completely relax.

"So what's up?"

"I spoke with a friend of mine this morning," Sandy started. "He said for order to keep you here with us permanently we would have to take all legal responsibility for you; enroll you in school . . ."

"Wait, what do you mean permanently?"

Sandy and Kirsten cast each other nervous glances. "If you'd prefer we look for other options for you, we'd be willing to do that but we just thought . . ."

"No, no." Jess said quickly, hoping they wouldn't take back their offer. "I just thought this was a temporary thing. You know until I get a job and get back on my feet."

"Jess, we'd really like it if you were to stay with us permanently but the decision is up to you."

"You guys don't even know me, not really."

"I know that you're a kid. Who has no one and nowhere to go, that's enough for me."

He was right. Jess didn't have anywhere else to go. No one else wanted him.

"Yeah, I'd like to stay."

Sandy clapped his hand together excitedly. Even Kirsten looked pleased. Sandy handed him a couple of documents for him to sign. Kirsten handed him a pin and Jess noticed that they had already signed it. Jess read the document carefully before signing on all of the appropriate dotted lines.

"Great. Welcome to the family Jess."

"Yeah man," Seth said coming into the room with Ryan. "Congratulations man. You're a Cohen now. Welcome to a life of insecurity and paralyzing self-doubt." Seth glanced at Ryan and grimaced, "Whoa, déjà vu."

Ryan held out his hand and Jess shook it. "Welcome to the family man. There isn't a better one out there."

"Thanks man."

"We still have some things that we need to get settled." Sandy waited until he had Jess' attention again. "We have a meeting with Dr. Kim later this afternoon and we still need to get your stuff shipped over."

"Dr. Kim?"

"She's the Dean. Nothing to be worried about. All you have to do is take a placement exam, which you should pass, no problem."

"Yeah man. You should do fine. She's mellowed in her old age. You should have seen her a couple of years ago. Then you would have had something to worry about."

"Seth!"

"What Mom? You know I'm right. She used to be scary."

"Is this a private school? Because you generally don't need to take a placement exam to go to public school; which would be just fine. You guys have already done so much for me."

"Jess, we want you to have the best shot you could possibly have. This school will give you that shot. The meeting is at three, be ready by 2:30."

Jess had never been more nervous in his life. He felt like he was going to throw up. He was sitting in Dr. Kim's office, Sandy on one side, Kirsten on the other, waiting for her to come in. Jess had never done very well in school in the past. He just didn't care. The teachers' were a bore. The work was too easy. He just didn't see why it mattered. But the Cohen's believed in him and he wanted to show them that he was worth it.

Dr. Kim came into the room holding a file in her hands. She sat across from him, not saying a word, opened the file and began to read. Jess looked to Sandy, not sure if he should say anything. Sandy just shrugged.

It seemed like hours before Dr. Kim looked up at him; but he knew it hadn't been quite that long.

"Jess Mariano. Your grades are horrible. You hardly bother to even show up to school. Have gotten in trouble numerous times for fighting and being disruptive during class. Your only redeeming quality is your test scores. Now you tell me why I should let you even attend my school."

Jess swallowed thickly, even more nervous than he was before. He had to try though, for the Cohen's. "I know I haven't tried very hard in the past but I also know that I can do it. I am capable of graduating from here with honors. And I am now willing to put in the work. The Cohen's took a change on me and all I'm asking for is for you to be willing to do the same. Just give me a shot."

Dr. Kim smiled at him and handed him the test. "You have one shot. Good luck." Dr. Kim stood and ushered the Cohen's out of the room. Jess looked down at the test and smiled. He could do this.

Jess finished the test within an hour. He handed it to Dr. Kim who gave his a dubious look. No one had ever finished the test that quickly before.

Dr. Kim checked the test before looking up shocked. "This is a near perfect score. No one has ever scored this highly before."

"I read a lot," Jess responded, feeling everyone staring at him.

"Well let's get you signed up then," Dr. Kim said, smiling so wide it was starting to creep Jess out.

The enrollment process was long and tedious. Jess almost fell asleep multiple times only to get jolted back to reality by somebody asking him a question. "Okay, all we need is your school records and you'll be able to start school on Monday."

"I'll take care of it," Sandy replied.

"Good. See you Monday Jess." Jess shook Dr. Kim's hand before following Sandy and Kirsten out the door.

Jess spent the car ride home quietly thinking. He knew he had to call his uncle. He needed his stuff shipped. His uncle probably didn't even know he was out of jail. He dreaded calling him. He didn't know what to say to him. He didn't want to say anything to him. He knew that he and Luke hadn't had the best relationship but he had also thought that Luke cared about him, that he would always be there for him. He had said he would be.

Sandy walked into the house, cell-phone in hand, dialing. Jess went inside, up to his room, and pulled out his cell-phone as well. He hesitated, working up the courage before dialing the familiar number.

It was the third ring before anybody picked up. "Yeah? What?" Luke's voice rang out.

"Hey." Jess didn't know what else to say. What could he say? Nothing would make this better. Nothing would make him feel less betrayed.

"Jess? Is that you?"

"Yeah."

Jess didn't hear anything for a couple of minutes. He almost thought that Luke had hung up on him. "Well how are you?"

Jess could no longer hear the voices of Stars Hollow on the other end and figured that Luke had gone somewhere private to talk to him.

"I'm good. Real good."

"That's good." Luke didn't sound like he believed him in the slightest. "You keeping your nose clean in there?"

"I was."

"Jess . . ."

"I actually called for a reason Luke. I need you to ship my stuff to me."

"I wasn't aware they let you have your personal belongings in prison."

"They don't. But they do in Newport, California."

"What?"

"Yeah, you didn't hear? I'm out of jail. They finally realized it was physically impossible for me to be in two different places at once. So they let me go."

"No, I didn't hear that."

"Yeah, I figured. Look, I just called to ask you to ship my stuff. The address is 101 Bennington Drive in Newport, California. Thanks."

Jess hung up, trying to keep his tears at bay. He was startled by a knock on the door. "Come in," he called, wiping his eyes with his shirt sleeve.

Ryan peaked around the door before coming in. "Hey are you okay? You sounded upset."

Jess just nodded, not able to look at him in fear that he would see the tears that were threatening to fall.

"Do you want to talk?" he asked, concerned.

Jess kept staring straight ahead, not saying anything although Ryan thought he saw a tear fall. "Well I'm around if you need to later."

Ryan shut the door, leaving Jess alone in the silence. Tears started streaming down his face. He was too tired to try and stop them.

**Please Review!**


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